What does North Dakota law tell a homeowner before a home job?

North Dakota earns a C in the 2026 Home Job Readiness Grade, with 5 of 8 possible points on 4 scored measures. The grade covers what state law and official state pages tell a homeowner about deposits, written contracts, cancelling and an online contractor record.

InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.

Reviewed 24 October 2026. Researched by the InstaBids editorial team.

Describe it onceBy chat, or through your own AI assistant, and add photos.
Post it and send itContractors bid in writing on that scope.
Compare line by lineEvery quote is written against the same scope.
You chooseContact details stay hidden until you pick and they confirm.

For your AI assistant

MCP connector · REST API · plain HTML

Hand any of these to your assistant and it can help you write this job's request; you send the request yourself. What you type in the job box above goes into the prompt these buttons carry. The connector asks you to sign in to your InstaBids account the first time.

MCP connector URLhttps://instabids.ai/api/agent/mcp
Agent API (OpenAPI)https://instabids.ai/openapi.json
Start-request linkhttps://instabids.ai/intake?from=us-home-job-readiness-grade-north-dakota&utm_source=us&utm_medium=page&utm_campaign=home-job-readiness-grade
Prompt for any AI, with your job

Open it in your assistant

Add InstaBids as a connector

Every page is plain HTML. Steps for every assistant: add to your assistant.

North Dakota Home Job Readiness Grade 2026: C (5 of 8 points)

This grade is a compilation of statute text and official state pages, reviewed 24 October 2026. It is not legal advice.

How did each measure score?

Statutory deposit limit: 0 of 2 points

No statutory deposit limit was found in the official sources reviewed 22 October 2026. Not found means not found in the sources checked; it is not an official statement that the state has no cap.

Official sources reviewed: source 1, source 2

Written-contract rule for home-improvement work: 1 of 2 points

The state-law writing rule on file covers a narrow class only, such as sales made at the home or one kind of work.

51-18-04. Agreement requirement. No agreement of the buyer in a personal solicitation sale is enforceable unless it is in writing, dated, contains the signature of the buyer, and contains a conspicuous notice in substantially the following form:

Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 51-18-04, read 14 October 2026

Statutory right to cancel: 2 of 2 points

A state statute gives a right to cancel that reaches home-improvement contracts or sales made at the home within the scope and dollar limits in the quoted words below.

1. In addition to any right otherwise to revoke an offer, the buyer may cancel a personal solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the buyer signs an agreement that complies with this chapter.

Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 51-18-02(1), read 14 October 2026

Online public record of the state's home-contractor credential: 2 of 2 points

The state publishes an online public record of its statewide home-contractor credential. A lookup is an optional public-record step.

Use FirstStop to Search for Registered Contractors

Source: sos.nd.gov, read 22 October 2026

Is there a federal rule too?

Federal rule, not scored here: 16 CFR 429.1(a), the FTC door-to-door sales rule, covers a sale the seller personally solicits that is agreed at a place other than the seller's place of business, for $25 or more at the buyer's home or $130 or more elsewhere, with exceptions in 16 CFR 429.0. For those sales it requires this statement in the buyer's contract or receipt:

You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction.

Source: 16 CFR 429.1(a), eCFR, read 22 October 2026

What can a homeowner check in North Dakota before hiring?

No state lookup link is on file for this state yet.
State consumer-protection office: North Dakota Attorney General, read 24 October 2026.
Ask for the job scope, the deposit and the cancel terms in writing before you sign, and keep a copy.

How can I embed this chart?

North Dakota Home Job Readiness Grade 2026: C, points by measure

Anyone may embed this chart or reuse the data. A credit link to this page is welcome; nothing is required in return.

<figure><img src="https://instabids.ai/fl/data/home-job-readiness-grade/north-dakota.svg" alt="North Dakota Home Job Readiness Grade 2026: C, points by measure" width="640"><figcaption><a href="https://instabids.ai/us/home-job-readiness-grade/north-dakota">InstaBids</a></figcaption></figure>

All 50 states and the District of Columbia, and how the grade works